Aliens

[Dan1980]

Do you think aliens exist, and if they do and come to Earth do yuh think they will be friendly or hostile?

[Ibex]

Well seeing as how insanily huge the universe is, it would be very weird if Earth is the only planet with inteligent life on it.
So yes, I belive we aren't alone. But some of them are most definitly not smarter than us. Some are most likely, but that doesn't mean they can travel by light speed
And I highly doubt any of them know the answer to what happens after death, if there is a god or not and all those other impossible to answer questions.

[TigerLover]

Oh they definitely exist. There is a nearly infinite number of planets out there. At least one of them will have sentient life.
It's that whole infinite monkey-typewriter thing.

However, and it brings me great sadness to say this. There is no way we'll ever meet them. Put simply if sentients lived within travelling distance of Earth we'd of detected them already.

The travel times are too great and the window of opportunity (our existence) is far too small.

[Ibex]

The travel times are too great and the window of opportunity (our existence) is far too small.

Especially seeing as we humans will most likely be extinct way before we've managed to make some tech that can get us to those planets

[TigerLover]

Especially seeing as we humans will most likely be extinct way before we've managed to make some tech that can get us to those planets

Too true we're like a kid with a fork and a power socket.

But I am quite excited about the upcoming test of the impossible emp drive.
That tech will never take us anywhere near those planets. But we might be able to make space flights cost effective and carbon free.

[SilverBullet]

Do aliens exist? I think so.

Technology to bridge the gap of distance? I think so, yes. We humans went from wooden boats to the moon in only a few centuries, technological growth is on an exponential growth curve (one technology opens doors into another, and with technological advancements in computing power to name one, we can run more complex experiments as simulations and push for even better technology), imagine what would happen given a million years of technological advancements. Which leads to the next question and why I answer it as I do, any advanced civilization would have some form of caring for life to have not destroyed each other. And if they can span the universe we have nothing of value and are not a threat so destroying us would be a wasted effort/waste of resources.
Would we be valuable only for our planet IE would they want to take it? I dont think soo, I believe if a civilization has mastered the ability to travel light years in seconds I think global terraforming is firmly within their grasp.

Will they be friendly? I think so.

I think they will visit, but only get as close as they need to to monitor us.
Even though we are super primitive in comparison I believe we would be valued by any historians (for one) they have,
it would be fascinating to watch us progress technologically and we probably share very similar technological advancement patterns.
Who knows, perhaps we discover a better blender or something then the aliens will have ninja blenders too .

[Chase]

Probably, but I doubt they've been visiting. I'm agnostic on how abundant life is, and how frequent life evolves into what we'd call "intelligent" to boot. Maybe there's a million alien civilizations for every galaxy, or maybe one for every million galaxies, who knows.
It's very possible our civilization will be eradicated from our own nuclear weapons, and likewise it's very possible that most alien civilizations wipe themselves out with nukes before they become capable of becoming interstellar.
If aliens visit us, I'd guess the reason would be more cynical than positive. If they are capable of interstellar travel, they probably wouldn't need our resources, since there's enough lifeless planets, moons, and asteroids for them to take without endangering themselves with war.
It'd probably be for the better that we hope they aren't like us, because then we truly would be doomed, depending on how much more advanced they'd be. I don't buy for a second the notion that an advanced alien civilization would be benign simply because they were advanced. Humans didn't become more peaceful when we invented the atomic bomb, and we probably won't be when we develop interstellar travel. The same would hold true for aliens. We live in an age where humans have walked on the moon and sent robots to Mars, yet billions of people still believe others are worthy of eternal torture if they have different beliefs than they do. So if aliens visit us, it'll either be for their own curiosity and to watch us as if we were animals in a safari, or they'll be here to exterminate us, like the demons we are.

[Insertnamehere]

I don't buy for a second the notion that an advanced alien civilization would be benign simply because they were advanced

I often think that an advanced civilization, while not inherently evil, would have the same opinion of us as we have of ants.

"Oh, look at how organized their society is, look at how they communicate, look at what amazing feats they can pull off with them tiny bodies.......how cute..... *proceeds to squash a bunch of them*"

[Pix]

I would be astounded if there were no other life in the universe, or even no other sentient life. 'Course there's no way to know.

I don't believe Earth is being visited. I don't feel like explaining this in detail, but while I believe some encounter stories can't be conventionally explained and defy explanation, I think they're more paranormal rather than extraterrestrial. That said, it wouldn't upset my view if say evidence was revealed and it became accepted fact that the US Government did indeed recover an extraterrestrial craft from Roswell in 1947. Their technology would likely be such that our SETI didn't have a chance of finding them or intercepting their signals (at least in a way to understand that they're signals rather than natural).

I wouldn't be willing to place bets on if they were friendly or not, but if I were to place a bet, then I figure any who come out here are seeking resources, and that makes it unlikely that they are friendly (at the very least, they will put their own interests above ours). Predators also tend to be more intelligent (otherwise they would starve) and be more curious and likely to roam, and that also makes me think that a species that predates on others of its own world is the most likely to reach Earth, and that probably means they have instincts to compete and expand, if not outright see us as prey.

I should mention that I believe if humanity spreads to other star systems, that other species would almost certainly suffer for it for the same reason. I don't believe that we'd ever create a utopian society, and it would be expansionist and competitive impulses that drove us into the stars, and humanity would continue to be callous or cruel to each other, and to other species as well.

Also, the different ways to sense the universe would make a difference on how they see us. As a simple example, I believe if a species was telepathic (as the Greys are supposed to be), then I don't think they'd consider us fully sentient or evolved, and would view us about the same way our species typically views other simians that use simple tools and can only communicate in simple ways by sign language (that is not deserving of rights, and any protection will be due to patronizing sentimentality, the same way we have laws against animal cruelty but still use them in ways that would be horrifying to us if aliens treated us in the same way).

[VirgoMasquerade]

Oh Emiliano!........... xD


Probably, As crazy as earth has gotten i don't think they would wanna deal with us...